If you'll let me, I'd like to interrupt your TLs for a moment to talk to you about Pat Duva, a 29-year-old Marine veteran who is dying of a rare brain cancer, and whose family asked me to help share his story.
connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye… @USMC
Pat is a history nerd and wanted to be a teacher. You'd want him on your trivia team. He from Jersey and fancies himself a pizza connoisseur. He turned down full college scholarships to become a Marine after watching the 9/11 terrorist attacks firsthand.
connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye…
"Pat always said, 'I went into the Marine Corps a healthy 18-year-old and I came out with all of these issues,'" his sister told me. "He felt in his heart that if he never joined, he would not have had the cancer. But he would not have changed anything." connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye…
A VA hospital delayed his cancer diagnosis by months, his family says, dismissing his complaints of back pain, headaches and double vision.
"Chronic back pain is common in veterans," he was told, then sent home.
connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye…
Pat is now in hospice and end-of-life care at home. He can't see, eat, drink and can barely speak except to tell his family he loves them in the little time remaining to him.
Here's the GoFundMe started by his family: gofundme.com/f/patrick039s-…
Pat's family wants his story to reach his brothers and sisters in arms to help prevent what happened to him and his family.
"If that happens, Pat will live forever, he's larger than life and he will never be forgotten," his sister Brianne said.
connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye…
cc: @kate_germano @colinjones @JimLaPorta @shanelier
@KirstieEnnis @SGillums @AmyMcGrathKY @PaulSzoldra @jchenelly @nixonron @iAmTheWarax @travis_horr @MotherOfDoggons
To be very clear, Pat and his family are by no means alone in this fight.
My Toxic Inferno series of stories chronicles other veterans who have died, or suffered because of their exposures.
The series starts with this story: connectingvets.radio.com/articles/toxic…
@H7Foundation
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